November 26, 2014

Clumsy CIA Drone Strikes Kill 41 Bad Guys Over A Span of Years, Angry Afghan Mother Kills 25 Bad Guys In One Battle Alone


The two articles below sum up the U.S/NATO fiasco in Afghanistan.

An Afghan mother, with little means but great motivation, put the Afghan army, NATO, and the CIA drone operators to shame. She and a few other family members killed 25 Taliban members in a seven-hour battle to avenge her son's murder. 

The Taliban will only be defeated by fed-up local Afghans like her, not indifferent foreigners who created the conditions that gave rise to this barbaric group, and religious radicalism in general.

The Afghan army will fold just like the Iraqi army did when the U.S. leaves and the Taliban gets more ambitious. The fight will be left to spirited Afghans like this mother.

An excerpt from, "41 men targeted but 1,147 people killed: US drone strikes – the facts on the ground" by Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian, November 24, 2014:
Finally, on 15 October 2010, Hellfire missiles fired from a Predator or Reaper drone killed Hussain, the Pakistani Taliban later confirmed. For the death of a man whom practically no American can name, the US killed 128 people, 13 of them children, none of whom it meant to harm. 

A new analysis of the data available to the public about drone strikes, conducted by the human-rights group Reprieve, indicates that even when operators target specific individuals – the most focused effort of what Barack Obama calls “targeted killing” – they kill vastly more people than their targets, often needing to strike multiple times. Attempts to kill 41 men resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,147 people, as of 24 November.
An excerpt from, "Afghan woman kills 25 Taliban rebels to avenge her son’s murder" Khaama Press, November 24, 2014:
An Afghan woman has killed at least 25 Taliban militants to avenge the murder of her son who was a police officer in western Farah province.

According to reports, Reza Gul was forced to pick up arms after her son was shot dead by Taliban militants in front of her eyes.

She was supported by her daughter and daughter-in-law during the gun battle which lasted for almost 7 hours that left at least 25 Taliban militants dead and five others injured.